Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-09-29
SIBERIAN DIET.

As regards the food of the aborigi-
nails of Asiatic Russia, vegetarianism
cannot be said to have made much
Roadway among the nomads, whether
in Siberia or Turkistaa.
Deprived for so mary months of the
year by snow of the sight of anything
green, when the Sibcrians kill a rein
deer they carefully empty its stomach
of the undigested moss the animal has
eaten, and serve that up as delicacy,
but in winter they get little vegetable
food besides. Even with nomads Of
the Steppc, what flour food they eat is
taken chiefly in the form of Cruel. 1t
struck me as strange contrast Of
dietary customs when the Archbishop
of Vernoye informed me that they in
tended to send monks IA missionaries
of the Russian Church to the Buruti or
hara-Kirghesc, for the Russian monks
cat no meat, and the BGruti eat no
bread, so they proposed to cut the
knot by planting a station on the
shores Of Lake Isik-Kul, where the
holy men could feed on fish.
The Kirghese of the Steppe live in
the summer almost entirely on milk,
variously prepared, whilst tho rich eat
of mutton as their staple food, with
the addition of beef, and occasionally
cameps flesh. In the north the va
kutes are fond of horse-hesh. A va
kute bride on her wedding-day sets
before her lord and master as the
greatest of delicacies horse-fesh saus-
ages, with boiled horses head, OF
which the brains are the most dainty
morsel. Tho quantity too of horse
flesh they eat is appalling. Their adj
age says, that ''to eat much meat, and
grow fat upon it, is the highest des-
tiny Of man" ! myself was not pre-
sent at one OF their orgies, but as far
back as the days of Strahlenberg it
was said that four Yakutcs would eat
a horse. Once more, the Gilyaks exist
on very different kind of food, for
they are almost ichthyophagi, salmon
being their principal diet. This fish
comes up The Amir in such numbers
that they can be tossed ont with q
pitchfork. Even the dogs go into the
stream and catch for themselves. and
salmon such as the finest seen in Lon
don may be purchased III the season
among The Gilyaks for a penny each.
The fish, cut up and dried, without
further cooking, are eaten, piece of
similar size per day serving alike for
the Gilyak and one of his dogs. |
went to the lower Amur disposed to
confide in the theory that fish diet, by
reason of its phosphorus, was calcul-
ated to give brain power to students,
but after seeing the. miserable speci-
mems OF humanity in the Gilyaks who
live on fish, nay belief in this theory
has been rudely shaken.
The Gilyaks made another use of the
| salmon which | do not remember to
have heard of in other countries, mas
much as they employ the skin for
garments. Hence the Chinese call
them "Yupitatzc, or tish-skin strang-
ers. The tish-skin is prepared from
two kinds of salmon. They strip it off
with dexterity, and by beating with n
mallet remove the scales, aud so
render it supple. Clothes thus made,
I need hardly say, are waterproof,
but they have an Objectionable smell
to noses polite. was fortunate
enough to purchase on the Amur
! fish-skin coat, which | believe in En-
gland is unique. for there is nothing
! like it in the British Museum. 1t is
handsomely embroidered on the back,
the intermixture of colors being skill
fully wrought in needle-work.
Fish-skin. however, is used only for
summer clothing. In winter the
Gilyak delights to clothe himself in
the skins of his dogs, or of fox or
wolf, as being next warmest- Tho
tribes further west, as indeed do all
the Siberian people, employ the skins
of the reindeer and elk for winter
clothing. Such immense numbers of
the elk are killed that in some years
one may buy Ia the town OF Yeniseisk
alone as many as ten thousand skins.
Or. Henry LGHsde.l, IN Harpcr's Ma
gaEiile,